overwhelming

verbadjectivenouncommon in dialogue

United Kingdom//ˌəʊvəˈwɛlmɪŋ//
United Kingdom//ˌəʊvəˈʍɛlmɪŋ//
Canada//ˌoʊvɚˈwɛlmɪŋ//
Canada//ˌoʊvɚˈʍɛlmɪŋ//
/[ˌoːʋaˈwɛlmɪŋ]/

Overpowering, staggering, or irresistibly strong.

verb

1
Also a form of overwhelmpresent participle and gerund of overwhelm

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Germanic *uber Old English ofer- Middle English over- Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp-der. Proto-Germanic *kʷolpós Proto-Germanic *hwalbazder.? Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp-der. Proto-Germanic *kʷólpo- Proto-Germanic *hwalbąder.? Old English hwealf Old English *hwealfnian Old English *hwealmnian? Middle English whelmen Middle English overwhelmen English overwhelm Proto-Indo-European *-onts Proto-Germanic *-ndz Proto-West Germanic *-andī Old English -ende Middle English -ynge English -ing English overwhelming From overwhelm + -ing.

adjective

1
Overpowering, staggering, or irresistibly strong.
The vote was taken at once, and it was agreed by an overwhelming majority that rats were comrades.
It is this stretch which provides what is perhaps the most staggering scenic prospect of all; the impression made on the mind by the overwhelming height of the Eiger, towering over the train, is almost impossible to describe.
God is an overwhelming responsibility.
“What makes a eugenicist is this overwhelming faith that everything in human nature is determined by your genes,” he says.
2
Very great or intense.
3
Extreme.

noun

1
A situation of being overwhelmed.
They have centuries of premodern experience in coping with being overwhelmed in multiple ways—not only by God, but also by other overwhelmings that have always been part of the human condition, such as disease, famine, war […]

Forms

plural: overwhelmings
comparative: more overwhelming
superlative: most overwhelming

overtime · Working time outside of one's regular hours.overweight · Having a higher weight, especially body fat, than what is…overwhelmed · Emotionally overpowered.

overwhelming · Overpowering, staggering, or irresistibly strong.

ow · Synonym of ouch (“cry of pain”).owe · To be under an obligation to give something back to someone…owed · That owes.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.